Thanks to Steve Liebeskind for food review.

52 people ascended on the Society to sample the fine cooking of Nigel Burton who emphasised the importance of pairing flavours and characteristics of food and wine.

Today the Society was presented with a lunch built around the marriage of food and wine with “do we complement wine and food and if so, how is this achieved”.

Canapes

Today we started with three canapes all prepared by our Company Secretary Hilton Chapman. Normally this high standard eloquent wine reviewer stays out of the kitchen, today Nigel enticed him to go somewhere different. With that message, Hilton succeeded with great result.

1. Smoked salmon on blini. Simple yet tasty. Hilton cooked his blinis from scratch – not Coles/Woolworth bought - we were given very light and thin blini’s, a labour of love. The blinis were accompanied with horseradish cream, a slice of smoked salmon and topped with grated finger limes from Hilton’s garden. Colourful, elegant and very enjoyable.
2. Eggplant on a spoon. This canape was presented with flavour and body. This a delightful combination of smoked eggplant and freshness inclusive of some garlic and a few other herbs and spices. The ‘Baba Ganoush’ was topped with pickled eggplant from a wicked Virgin from Rutherglen.
3. The surprise canape was the third - a Chapman special. Cheese, beef jerky and mint heated and served on sourdough rounds. In case you missed it, Hilton added more cheese, sour cream and the secret ingredient – Gravox. This was a hardy canape and rounded off the three starters that were paired with Pinot Noirs from Victoria.

It should be mentioned these canapes went from light to heavy and delicate to finish with tones and flavours that complimented the main and the wine selection for the main/cheese.

Main

The main was rack of lamb with herb crust served with duck fat roast potatoes and baby asparagus. Sounds simple – yes, but it wasn’t. As mentioned, there were 52 attendees and because the lamb was herb-crusted Nigel’s ‘go to’ method of cooking of sous vide had to be replaced with traditional cooking – searing and baking in the oven. This is where the challenge comes about. The lamb was rendered to reduce the fat – a major task when doing 52 prepared (French cut) three-piece cutlets. After rendering, the crust of breadcrumbs, mint, garlic, capsicum and other ingredients were pressed on the lamb and placed in the oven. Even comments about Eucalyptus (a WA wine character) were mentioned. After cooking (and resting), the lamb was placed on the plate with a wonderful portion of baked crisp duck fat potatoes and for added colour, baby green asparagus. With ingredients in the main Nigel ensured we had elements of food that complimented the wines of Cabernet from areas of Coonawarra and Margaret River – well done.

The lamb was cooked perfectly and with the herb crust, we had a fantastic marriage of food and wine. There is nothing better than spring lamb with Cabernet. Add the specific herbs to complement the elements of the wine and Wow we have a winner. The potatoes were to die for and the asparagus (cooked by walking past a hot stove) went very well with the Coonawarra Cabernets. Not all lambs were rendered properly but seriously when doing 50+ the chances of that occurring is low.

Overall the comments from the floor were positive on the meal and the pairing caused people to talk about the wine in detail.

Cheese and salad

Today we had a Will Studd El Esparto Manchego Artesano.

This was a Spanish sheep milk cheese. Many picked this as a Manchego however, there was a slight difference. In fact, this was collected across the PDO region, which meant this farmstead “artesano’ cheese was of rare exception. The natural brown rind contains no artificial colours or mould inhibitors. The cheese is aged for between 6 to 9 months until the ivory-coloured interior develops a distinctive sweet moist nutty finish with a hint of grass and wild shrub.

The Manchego was mature, hard and at times dry. It was enjoyed by all although it was felt this cheese didn’t complement the wine theme of today. Rather a Sherry or possibly a white may have complemented the cheese.

Accompanying the cheese was a vegetarian’s delight. Served to the Society was a fresh bowl of Capsicum (green, red and yellow), finely mandolin red radishes, dried berries and a light vinaigrette.

Nigel also passed around some tobacco to familiarise those who had given up this evil during the 1980s, to reflect as to what it smelled like and what it may smell like when mentioned as an aroma in Cabernet.

There was a piece of what I think was 80% or 90% chocolate for the coffee.